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Librarians, library directors, library trustees, government officials, and friends of libraries gathered on November 20 for the 55 Annual Meeting of the Westchester Library System (WLS) at the Sheraton Tarrytown.

Barbara Morrow, President of the Friends of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library, and Sue Feir, Director, Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library, Co-Winners of the 2014 WLS Trustees Award

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the second WLS Trustees Award. A total of 14 people representing 9 Westchester libraries received nominations for the Award, which was given for a commitment to provide open access to information and resources that foster innovation, inspiration and lifelong learning based on broad impact, innovation and collaboration. This year’s Award was presented to co-winners: Sue Feir, Director of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library, and Barbara Morrow, President of the Friends of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library. A number of their accomplishments were highlighted.

Sue Feir:

Spearheading a small yet transformative project to expand the library’s community room;

As creative advocate of collaboration, Ms. Feir recast the library as a host facility for school testing, local artist exhibits and free career counseling and fostered synergy between the library and Hastings Farmer’s Market;

Deployed the library to meet a public health need and began an annual blood drive, which in partnership with the New York Blood Center, became a regular library event held three times a year.

Barbara Morrow:

Organized various events to celebrate the library’s 100th Anniversary as well as a lecture series titled, Dewey on the Hudson—completing the celebration with a bang-up party and marching band through the streets.

Stayed on as President of the Friends to oversee new capital campaign, Above and Beyond: Expanding our Point of View, to extend the community room and build an outside deck overlooking the Hudson River.

The co-winners were presented with a check in the amount of $1,000 to the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library, funded by the WLS Trustees. New York State Legislators Thomas Abinanti [92 AD] and Steven Otis [91 AD] were on hand to congratulate the co-winners; and Westchester County Legislator MaryJane Shimsky [12 CLD] declared November 21st Sue Feir and Barbara Morrow Day. All of those nominated (as shown below) were recognized for their outstanding contributions:

Nominee

Nominated by

Library

Robert Cartolano

Tracy Wright

Eastchester Public Library

Lillian Hecker

Patricia Perito

Town of Pelham Public Library

Ann Hein

Jeffrey Ault

Dobbs Ferry Public Library

Haina Just-Michael

Emery Schweig

New Rochelle Public Library

Brian Kenney

Paul Schwarz

White Plains Public Library

Jenny Kolesar

Jill Davis

Hendrick Hudson Free Library (Montrose)

Gary Page

Mary Shah

Lewisboro Library

Charlotte Schachter & Ruth Shire, Co‑Presidents of the Friends of the Mount Vernon Public Library

Carolyn Karwoski

Mount Vernon Public Library

Heide Shilstone

Elin Sullivan

Bedford Hills Free Library

Tamara Stewart

Hafeezah Basir

Mount Vernon Public Library

Na’im Tyson, PhD

Chris Hansen

Mount Vernon Public Library

During the business portion of the evening, presided over by WLS President Chris Hansen, the following trustees were re-elected to a 5-year term expiring as of December 31, 2019: Mary Amato of Yonkers representing WLS District XV [Yonkers]; Hope Furth of White Plains representing WLS District XI [White Plains]; and Dave Donelson of West Harrison representing WLS District VII [Harrison, Purchase].

Terry Kirchner, WLS Executive Director, gave an overview of WLS’s accomplishments in 2014, many of which were noted in the distributed WLS Annual Report 2013-14.

One important task of 2014 concerned the Integrated Library System (ILS). WLS will continue with the current vendor SirsiDynix and further educate staff about open source products. This well thought-out decision represented a huge time commitment by all who participated on the WLS-Public Library Directors Association (PLDA) ILS Committee. Other key areas for 2015 identified in conjunction with PLDA include: providing more eContent; supporting program initiatives such as Creative Aging workshops and Makerspace activities; expanded marketing and further promotion of services available at local libraries; enhanced wireless services with printing options; and of course, training for the ILS and exploring open source products.

Keynote speaker was Kerri Willette, New York’s first Empire State Digital Network (ESDN) Manager. Ms. Willette is responsible for coordinating activities of the ESDN, a statewide service hub for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), which is being administered by Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) in collaboration with eight allied regional library councils collectively working as NY 3Rs Association, Inc. Ms. Willette gave an overview of the DPLA, which was launched in 2013 with 7.1 Million searchable digital objects, and spoke about what it takes to share data with the DPLA, which is not merely another search engine but a new tool that will help library’s special collections be discovered. One of the roles of the ESDN will be to contact regional libraries to find out what is being collected and making all libraries aware of how to contribute their content properly. The DPLA’s progress can be followed via the ESDN website and social media [@NYSdigital]; and Ms. Willette’s presentation has been posted to the WLS website.

Westchester County, NY (September 26, 2013)—Library card holders in Westchester County now have access to Total Boox, a new e-book service with the following features:

Unlimited Access – All books are immediately available to all patrons. No need to wait.

Unlimited Downloading – Download as many books as you want to your mobile device.

Unlimited reading – No expiration. Books stay on your device for as long as you wish.

Unlimited freedom – all books can be read online and offline.

There is a large selection of over 17,000 quality books on the Total Boox platform, in all categories and genres. Cardholders can access Total Boox on the WLS homepage by simply registering with their library card number, and PIN. Just browse through the Total Boox site and select books of interest to add to your collection.

“We’re very excited to launch our service with WLS”, says Yoav Lorch, Founder and CEO of Total Boox. “This is the first time in the history of libraries where all titles are always available to all patrons, regardless if any titles have been checked out or not. We strongly believe our unique model provides true value to readers, librarians and publishers, and hope to see it in the near future installed in public and academic institutions nationwide.”

“WLS is proud to be the first library system worldwide to integrate this service”, says Terry L. Kirchner, Executive Director. “Total Boox offers a wide range of e-books, including current titles in computer technology and the sciences, that will help our member libraries better serve the information needs of their communities.” For more information on Total Boox and other digital collection services, visit our website www.westchesterlibraries.org.

About the Westchester Library System
The Westchester Library System (WLS) includes 38 member public libraries located throughout the County and is one of New York State’s 23 public library systems. WLS and its member libraries have a total collection of 5.3 million items, including 3.8 million books, as well as audio recordings, DVDs, print serials, and other materials. The mission of the Westchester Library System is to ensure that all residents have seamless access to excellent library service throughout Westchester County. The Westchester Library System serves as a center of innovation for the Westchester County library community. WLS provides model programs, affordable and easy-to-use information technology, and support services that enable libraries to continuously improve service to their communities.

About Total Boox

Total Boox (pronounced “books”) is a young company offering a unique patent-pending platform for ebook distribution, where access to all books is free and the cost to the reader reflects the portion of the book that has actually been read. This disruptive approach creates significant advantages in reader-book matching, discoverability, distribution, analytics and more. The company has distribution agreements with many world class publishers, among them Elsevier Science and Technology, O’Reilly Media, Source Books, Constable-Robinson, F+W Media, Other Press, Red-Wheel Wiser, Berrett-Koehler and others. Its services are available to libraries or directly to individual consumers. For more information visit www.totalboox.com.